I'm sick of politicians pussy footing around. As they won't say it, I will - we ARE at war, writes RICHARD LITTLEJOHN

The homicidal maniacs who slaughtered seven people and wounded dozens more were determined the world would be left in no doubt about their motivation.

'This is for Allah,' they screamed as they plunged their knives into young men and women during a terrifying spree of indiscriminate carnage. It was the third in a series of devastating attacks by Islamist fanatics on British soil in recent weeks, all of which have claimed innocent lives in the name of the Prophet.

Yet the Prime Minister was at pains to assure us yesterday that there was no connection between these deadly acts of mass murder. She did concede, however, that: 'They are bound together by the single evil ideology of Islamist extremism that preaches hatred, sows division and promotes sectarianism.'

The trio began their killing spree just after 10pm when they ploughed into pedestrians in a white van on London Bridge

Devastating: Harrowing images and videos have emerged showing bystanders rushing to save the lives of injured pedestrians on London Bridge

That's a start, at least. Normally, in the wake of such atrocities, we are treated to the tired mantra that they are 'nothing to do with Islam'.

Indeed, after the Manchester massacre, that city's calculating, two-bob chancer of a mayor Andy Burnham even tried to insist that the suicide-bomber 'wasn't a Muslim' — which would have come as a great surprise to him (before he blew himself up), his extended terror network, his family and everyone else who knew him down his local mosque.

Theresa May didn't go that far. But she did feel it necessary to state that the killers subscribed to 'an ideology that is a perversion of Islam and a perversion of the truth'. How does she know it's a perversion? She's the daughter of an Anglican clergyman, not an Islamic scholar. Does she think the Saudi predilection for chopping off heads, or the popular Pakistani sport of stoning to death women accused of adultery are perversions of the religion of peace, too?

Sorry, but if someone says they want to kill me on behalf of 'Allah' then I'm prepared to take his word for it.

Seven people were killed in brutal terror attack on London Bridge. Pictured above, the devastating scene as bystanders and emergency workers tried to save the injured

Forensic officers were seen circling blood splatter and bagging pieces of evidence as they scoured London Bridge today

There are multiple interpretations of the Koran. It's not our job to decide which one is correct, simply to deal ruthlessly with any manifestation of Islam which wants to bring bloody mayhem to our streets.

That's not in any shape or form to suggest that the vast majority of Muslims in Britain support the terrorists. But it is incontestable that the terrorists are all Muslims who quote the Koran to justify their deranged war against those they consider to be filthy 'infidels' — i.e.: anyone who fails to subscribe to their fundamentalist beliefs.

Plenty of Muslims disagree, but who are we to adjudicate on the correct interpretation of Islam? So devout are these bloodthirsty fanatics in their adherence to the Koran that they genuinely believe they will get their reward in paradise.

Why rot in a dead-end Didsbury council flat when 72 virgins await you in the after-life? They're not going to be deterred by Mrs May telling them they're not proper Muslims.

Twelve people were arrested in connection with the terror attack in a police raid on a flat in Barking, east London, today

Forensic officers were seen circling blood splatter and bagging pieces of evidence as they scoured London Bridge today

I would have preferred to see a few prominent Muslim clerics giving press conferences condemning the slaughter committed in the name of their faith.

Where was the Grand Mufti of Regent's Park, or the Ayatollah of Whitechapel yesterday? Surely, they would carry more authority than the infidel whore May if they stated categorically that anyone who murdered in the name of the Koran would burn in hell — not spend eternity in a celestial version of the Bada Bing, the lap-dancing bar in The Sopranos.

Yet, mostly, they stay silent. And because the British authorities are scared stiff of upsetting 'moderate' Muslims, our response to genuine extremism is equivocal.

The political class must shoulder the blame for allowing murderous Islamism to establish deep roots in Britain, with utterly predictable consequences.

As I wrote after the attack on Westminster in March: 'Every time there is a terrorist atrocity, either here or abroad, the politicians go through the same old motions, mouthing platitudes about never surrendering to evil. But by their actions they betray their hollow rhetoric and the rest of us have to live with the consequences.

The rented van used by the attackers pictured at the scene today, where it was abandoned shortly after 10pm last night

Armed officers remained at the scene today as police launched a major investigation into the the third terror attack on British soil in as many months

'They have encouraged the pernicious doctrine of 'multiculturalism' — which is just a fancy word for apartheid and has created vast, monocultural Muslim ghettoes in our great cities . . .

'The politicians have opened the floodgates to mass immigration without insisting on integration. They pretend that every culture, no matter how medieval and barbaric, is worthy of equal respect.

'They permitted foreign hate-preachers from intolerant theocracies to set up shop here, peddling their doctrine of violence and division.

'In pursuit of votes, they are in thrall to self-appointed 'community leaders' who take our money but reject our freedoms. As a result, it is possible to spend your entire life here without ever subscribing to a single one of our traditional values, such as tolerance of those with different religious beliefs. Many young Muslims grow up hating the country which gave them everything.

Forensics investigators work as a white van is carried away from London Bridge, after attackers rammed a hired van into pedestrians on London Bridge and stabbed others nearby killing and injuring people, in London

A white van used in the attack on London Bridge is seen hoist on top of a flat-bed truck as police work on London Bridge in London on June 4, 2017, as part of their investigations following the terror attack on the bridge and at the nearby Borough Market on June 3

'Over the past couple of decades, politicians have turned Britain into a safe haven for terrorists from all over the world. As a result, it's no longer safe to walk over a bridge in our capital city without running the risk of being mown down by an Islamist terrorist in a rented Hyundai . . .

'Smug, craven politicians, in thrall to notions of 'diversity' . . . sowed the seeds of the terrorism we are now reaping.'

Forgive me for repeating that verbatim, but I can't think of a better way of putting it.

Consider this. On the other side of the Thames from London Bridge station lies the Islamic Republic of Tower Hamlets — a virtual Muslim monoculture.

It is possible to grow up in inner city areas just like this without ever having to be sullied by the 'British values' the politicians pretend to promote.

Yesterday, police investigating the latest attack raided a block of flats a few miles further east in Barking. We are told they left 'women in burkas in tears'.

Three Jihadi terrorists have been shot dead by armed police after killing seven people and injuring at least 48 more during a horrific knife rampage in central London last night. This photo appears to show the suspects lying dead on the ground outside Wheatsheaf pub in Borough Market. The man in the centre of the image appears to be wearing an Arsenal football shirt

Oh dear, how sad, never mind. There are more burkas in Barking than in Bangladesh these days.

Anyone who objects to women walking the streets clad in head-to-toe sackcloth with only slits for their eyes is smeared as a 'racist' or an 'Islamophobe'.

But how are these women ever going to embrace 'British values'? Their costume is a deliberate rejection of British values. It says: 'We are not part of your society and never will be.'

In areas like this, where television comes via satellite from the Middle East, fundamentalism is allowed, nay encouraged, to flourish.

Here, impressionable young men can have their minds polluted by hatred disseminated over the internet.

Police patrol Twitter for 'hate crimes' such as 'homophobia' but ignore entreaties to mass murder. Similarly, the authorities expend more effort stopping football hooligans travelling abroad to England away games than preventing wannabe jihadists heading to Syria to fight alongside Islamic State — or returning here to bring death to the streets of Britain.

A City of London police officer bows in respect as a coroner's vehicle is driven away from London Bridge this morning

Armed police officers walk a detection dog through the streets around Borough Market as the investigation gets underway

That's not to criticise the police or the security services who are doing a fantastic job in the circumstances and have foiled an impressive number of plots.

Rather than address the root causes of terror, the politicians are content to send the police into the front line — a task to which they rose with exemplary bravery on Saturday night.

Armed officers shot dead the three terrorists before the death toll could multiply.

But it is worth remembering that Jeremy Corbyn, the man who would be Prime Minister, is viscerally opposed to any shoot-to-kill policy. How can we take him seriously on national security?

Corbyn thought Osama Bin Laden should have been arrested and read his rights, and counts Islamic terror organisations such as Hamas and Hezbollah as his 'friends'. He even tried to blame Manchester on Britain's foreign policy.

If Corbyn had been running COBRA this week, those brave firearms officers could have found themselves up on a murder charge. This is the kind of political obstructionism which hampers the work of those who strain every sinew to keep us safe.

Forensic officers today searched London Bridge for clues as they tried to piece together what happened last night

Forensics officers were seen carrying tools and bags of evidence away from London Bridge this morning

That sanctimonious creep Nick Clegg was all over the media yesterday, wringing his hands for the London Bridge victims. But as Deputy Prime Minister, he scuppered serious control orders for terror suspects because he was worried it would breach their precious 'yuman rites'.

London's mayor Sadiq Khan, who makes Andy Burnham look like Rudy Giuliani, claimed that London is the safest city in the world, even while the body-count was rising. With complacency like that, what chance have we got?

Theresa May looked and sounded the part yesterday, but we've heard it all before — not just after 9/11, 7/7, Paris, Nice, Brussels, Westminster etc, but after Manchester, too.

A man covers his head with his hood as he is led away from the flats, where one of the terrorists is believed to have lived

Police officers escort a woman to a police van after raiding a block of flats in Barking, east London

At least she doesn't shy away from identifying the threat as 'Islamist' — an accurate expression which got Ukip leader Paul Nuttall howled down on TV last week.

I can remember writing after 9/11 that we were at war. It may not be a conventional war, but it's a war nonetheless.

It's a war of attrition which the terrorists are winning, disrupting our daily routines and freedom of movement and forcing us to curtail our own civil liberties.

And it will be a war without end unless the politicians stop pussyfooting around and face up to the enemy within.

Marching a few soldiers halfway up Downing Street and back again, like the Grand Old Duke of York, isn't going to bring victory.

Instead of reacting after the event, the police and security services should be given extensive emergency powers to round up known terror suspects; to expel foreign preachers of hate; to shut down extremist mosques; to disrupt and disable Islamist websites; to face down self-appointed 'community' leaders and their useful idiots; and to arrest anyone returning from Syria and imprison them for the duration.

A map shows how terror attack unfolded. The attackers were shot dead within eight minutes of the first emergency phone call

Maybe it is time to arm the police as a matter of routine, provided we also give them absolute immunity when they are forced to use their weapons to protect life — rather than hanging them out to dry to appease the 'community'.

Firearms officers responded with commendable speed on Saturday, but if there had been armed bobbies on foot patrol at Borough Market, the attack might have been foiled earlier.

We should bring back the crime of treason for any British citizen taking part in terrorism at home or fighting with the enemy abroad. Fine, empty words and floral tributes, however well intended, are futile — and seen by the terrorists as signs of decadence and terminal weakness.

Theresa May says, finally, things have got to change. Enough is enough. Let's hope that this time she actually means it.

Politicians can't keep treating innocent men, women and children as cannon fodder to be slaughtered by knife-wielding Islamist maniacs and suicide-bombers screaming: 'This is for Allah.'

DASHCAM FOOTAGE REVEALS TRAIL OF DEVASTATION ON LONDON BRIDGE AFTER VAN TERROR RAMPAGE

A taxi driver filmed the aftermath of last night's shocking terrorist attack on London Bridge on his cab's dash cam.

The shocking video shows people receiving emergency treatment on the cycle lane of the south bound carriageway moments after the attack. Witnesses said the van swerved in an 'S' fashion to deliberately target pedestrians.

Taxi driver Radoslav Petrov filmed the footage as he witnessed police cars racing across the bridge on the wrong side of the road. Shortly afterwards, pedestrians ran away from the scene, heading north having been told to flee by police.

Taxi driver Radoslav Petrov witnessed injured pedestrians receiving assistance from passers by, left, moments after three jihadis ploughed through them on London Bridge last night

Police raced towards the scene, left, as the jihadists abandoned their vehicle and began 'randomly stabbing' unarmed victims

Police ordered survivors, right, to run north across the bridge and away from the terrorists as they responded to the emergency calls